Door lock



May 4, 1943. E. A. ERHARDT l y 2,318,146

DOOR LOCK Filed Jan. '28. 1942 Patented May 4, 1943 Treo TES

DOOR LOOK Edward A. Erhardt, Mission Beach, Calif., assignor to The YoungstownSteel Door Company, Cleveland, Ohio, a corporation of Ohio Application January28, 1942, Serial No. 428,581

6 Claims.

This invention relates to door locks and is primarily directed to locks for sliding doors of railway house cars.

It is an object of this invention to provide locks for sliding doors capable of automatically absorbing slack created by the movement of the doors.

A further object is to provide locks for sliding doors embodying locking pins and members wherein direct engagement between the pins and the members is avoided.

A further object is to provide locks for sliding doors embodyingr tapered locking pins wherein vertical movement of said doors relative to the car side or to adjacent doors will not produce upward movement of the pins.

Other objects of the invention will become clear as the description thereof proceeds.

In the drawing forming part of this specication:

Fig. l is an elevation showing a lock embodying the instant invention applied to a double door construction of railway house cars.

Fig. 2 is a horizontal section taken on line 2-2 of Fig. 1,

Fig. 3 is a vertical section taken on line 3-3 of Fig. l.

Referring to the drawing wherein a preferred embodiment of the invention is illustrated, a lock is shown applied to the main and auxiliary doors of a double door construction for railway house cars. It will be apparent, however, to those skilled in the art that the invention is applicable as well to the single doors of railway house cars.

The main door i of the double door construction, utilized for purposes of illustration, embodies a metallic panel Il formed with horizontal corrugations l2 merging at their ends into vertical corrugations, one of which is illustrated at i3 adjacent to the forward edge of the door. The door is reinforced by means of a backing plate I4 which spans the vertical corrugation and by means of a reinforcing member I5 secured to the forward margin of the door upon the outside of the panel as illustrated in Fig. 2 of the drawing. This construction of the main door is well known.

The auxiliary door I6 utilized in connection with the main door to constitute the double door construction is also Well known and embodies a metallic panel I'l formed with horizontal corrugations I8 merging at their ends into vertical corrugations, one of which is shown at I9. A metallic door post 2ll is secured to the forward margin of the auxiliary door and extends inwardly therefrom as shown in Fig. 2 of the drawing. A substantially Z-shaped stopmember 2l is secured to the front margin of the auxiliary door between the metallic panel IB and the door post 2i) and cooperates with the latter to provide a pocket 22 for receiving the forward portion of the main door when the doors are closed. A knee brace 23 secured to the post and to the metallic panel reinforces the post.

The lock embodying the instant invention comprises a fastener 24 secured upon the outside of one of the horizontal corrugations I2 of the main door which at this point is reinforced by means of a member 25 disposed within said corrugation, The reinforcing member 25 extends into the vertical corrugation I3 as best illustrated in Fig. 2 of the drawing.

A locking member 26 is swingably supported by the fastener 24 as shown in Fig. 2 of the drawing. This member is formed with an inwardly extending locking detent 2l which carries a flange 28.

A lock bracket 29 is secured upon-the outside of a horizontal corrugation of the auxiliary door which is alined with the horizontal corrugation Al2 of the main door upon which the fastener is secured. The lock bracket 29 comprises verti- `cally spaced housing members 3i) and 3| which slidably receive a tapered locking pin 32. The

'housing member 39 is extended forwardlyto provide a pocket 33 adapted to receive the upper Yend of a pivoted lever 34. The housing 3l is also extended forwardly to provide outer and inner -spaced walls 35 and 35 between which the lever A3-'3 is disposed and upon which said lever is pivotally supported by means of the pin 31. The lever 34 extends downwardly below the pin 31 so that the lever is pivoted intermediate its ends. The rear face of the lever 34 intermediate the housing extensions is concave as indicated at 38A The cooperating face 39 of the locking detent 2"! which `is adapted to have locking engagement with the concave face of the lever 34 is convex, as more clearly shown in Fig. 1 of the drawing.

To lock the main and auxiliary doors together the detent 2l is engaged with the concave portion of the rear face of the lever 34. 'Ihe tapered pin is then inserted through the housings 30 and 3| in forwardly overlapping relationship with the flange 28 provided on the detent. A seal not shown is then threaded through alined slots 40 and 4I formed respectively in the pin 32 and in flange 42 of the lock bracket. The doors are then fully locked and it is to be observed that the lower end of the lever 34 abuts the adjacent side of the tapered pin 32.

In the event that the doors are not fully closed when locked the main door may move in closing direction relative to the auxiliary door but separating movement between the doors is prevented by the locking engagement between the detent on the locking member and the lever. Upon relative movement of the main and auxiliary doors in closing direction the locking detent is released from the lever 34 so that the pressure of the lower portion of the lever against the adjacent side of the pin 32 is relieved. The

pin thereupon will drop by the action of gravity and effect counter-clockwise swinging movement of the lever so that locking engagement between detent 2l and the lever is restored. In this manner movement of the main and auxiliary doors toward each other may be continued until the doors are in contact, as illustrated in Fig. 2 of the drawing, whereupon all movement in opening and in closing directions is precluded. Lashing of the doors with consequent wear and destruction of the lock is obviated.

It has been found that upon impact to house cars the main and auxiliary doors thereof are subjected to relative vertical movement which when the locking members were disposed in direct locking engagement with the pins caused an upward creeping movement of the pins and, in some instances, shearing of the seals. By the instant invention this locking engagement has been shifted from the pin to the lever 34 and by the provision of the curved cooperating faces between the locking detent 21 and the lever the eiect of the relative vertical movement between the doors has been eliminated.

It will be apparent that numerous changes and modications in the details of the invention will be clear to those skilled in the art. It is intended, therefore, that all such modications and changes be comprehended within this invention, which is to be limited only by the scope of the claims appended hereto.

I claim:

1. A lock for sliding doors comprising a lock bracket, a vertically slidable tapered pin carried by said bracket, a member pivotally mounted intermediate its ends on said bracket, and a swingably mounted locking element, said locking element being adapted to extend in front of said member at one side of the pivot for said member, an inwardly extending detent on said locking element engageable in locking relationship with said member, a flange extending from said detent and adapted to lie behind said pin, said member being engageable with a side of said pin at the other side of the pivot for said member.

2. A lock for sliding doors comprising a lock bracket, vertically spaced housings on said bracket, a tapered pin slidable in said housings, a member pivotally mounted intermediate its ends in the lower of said housings, and a swingably mounted locking element, said locking element being adapted to extend in front of said member at one side of the pivot for said member, an inwardly extending detent on said locking element engageable in locking relationship with said member, a ange extending from .said detent and adapted to lie behind said pin, said member being engageable with a side of said pin at the other side of the pivot for said member.

3. A lock for sliding doors comprising a lock bracket, a vertically slidable tapered pin carried by said bracket, a member pivotally mounted intermediate its ends on said bracket, and a swingably mounted locking element adapted to extend across said member at one side of the pivot for said member, said locking element having a detent engageable in locking relationship with said member, said member being engageable with a side of said pin at the other side of the pivot for said member.

4. In a railway house car having a horizontally sliding door and a relatively stationary member associated therewith, a lock bracket secured to said relatively stationary member, a vertically slidable tapered pin carried by said bracket, a lever on said relatively stationary member, said lever being pivotally mounted intermediate its ends and a locking element swingably mounted on said door, said locking element being adapted to extend across said. lever at one side of the lever pivot, a detent on said locking element engageable in locking relationship with said lever, said lever being engageable with a side of said pin at the other side of the lever pivot.

5. A lock for sliding doors comprising a lock bracket, avertically slidable tapered pin carried by said bracket, a member pivotally mounted Vintermediate its ends on said bracket, and a swingably mounted locking element adapted to extend across said member at one side of the pivot for said member, the side of said member adjacent to said pin having a curved portion, said locking element having a detent provided with a curved face engageable in locking relationship with the curved portion of said member, said member being engageable with a side of said pin at the other side of the pivot for said member.

6. A lock for sliding doors comprising a lock bracket, a vertically slidable tapered pin carried by said bracket, a lever pivotally mounted intermediate its ends on said bracket, and a swingably mounted locking element adapted to extend across said lever at one side of the lever pivot, the side of said lever adjacent to said pin having a concave portion, said locking element having a detent provided with a convex face engageable in locking relationship with the concave portion of said lever, said lever being engageable with a side of said pin at the other side of the lever pivot.

EDWARD A. ERHARDT. 

